Goodbye, my Friend - Hello, my Love
by XBrain130
Summary: Skyshipping, hints of HolyIce and Determination. After the Ceremonial Battle, Astral entrusted Yuma with the Key and the Numbers, and departs for the Astral World. Yuma is melancholy for parting by his friend after so many adventures. But Kotori can't bear seeing him like that, and decides to finally reveal him something that, hopefully, will cheer him. Based on current spoilers.


**Me: *has a huge slap mark on the cheek* Hey, guess what? Today it's my birthday! Hooray for me!**

**Yuma: *nosebleeds* Heeeee...**

**Me: I'd like to thank Hamm-Ram for the special birthday present he gave me, which is the reason of this mark *points to the reddened cheek* and of Yuma's nosebleeding!**

**Yuma: *still nosebleeds* Heeee... me and Kotori and Cat-chan... eeeeee...**

**Me: And a thank you to Vile as well, who's curretly writing a little special story for all of us! Anyway, this is another "different timeline story". Here Kotori still didn't confess, and we got to the point of series' end. So, this is how I think ZEXAL should end. Warning, this is based on how the spoiler described the next episodes in 1st March 2014, so (probably) some details will be incorrect.**

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It was all over.

Don Thousand was taken down.

Nasch was defeated.

All Numbers were in the hands of their owner.

All humans returned on the Earth.

The Numeron Code was safe.

And the last battle between the two friends had been magnificent, worth to be the true confrontation of the two heroes.

Chris and Kaito repaired the gate to the Astral World, where all Yuma's friends were waving goodbye at him: Kotori, Tetsuo, Takashi, Cathy, Tokunosuke, Akari, Haru, Kaito, Haruto, Faker, Gauche, Droite, Nasch, Durbe, Merag, Vector, Alito, Girag, Mizael, Fuya, Anna, Rokujuro, Yamikawa, Chris, Thomas, Michael and Byron. At the entrance of the portal, Astral and Eliphas were saying the goodbyes at them.

«The Astral World took heavy damages during these years of war.» said Eliphas. «They need me to rebuild our home.» continued Astral. «I'm sorry Yuma... But in the next years we will not see each other very often...» Yuma, who was shedding a tear, smiled and nodded. «I understand! But, do you promise me that when you'll be done, I'll can come see you when I want to?» Astral smiled too. «Of course! But you must make me a promise as well. » Yuma raised an eyebrow, but continued to smile. «Well... okay, anything! » Astral smirked. «You must become the Earth's Duel Champion! Just like you said that day at the river! » Yuma made a blank face, but then grinned. «You bet! I will be the strongest human duelist!»

«Then I think you'll need these. » he said, before throwing the Emperor's Key in Yuma's hand. Yuma catched it, but then was confused. «What?» Astral raised his arm at him. «As the current owner of the Emperor's Key, keeper of the power of the Astral World, I, Astral, entrust you, Yuma Tsukumo, with its possession, along that of the Numbers cards. » Yuma's eyes widened. «Really? With this solemn tone? » Astral chuckled. «Yeah. You're probably the safest host for the Numbers. Also, I want them to be a proof. A proof of our friendship and of the adventures we shared together.» Yuma was on the verge of crying of happiness. «Thank you. I'll keep them as the most precious thing in the universe.» he declared. Astral closed his eyes smiling. Eliphas put a hand on his shoulder. «Come on, Astral. Our world needs its savior.» Astral nodded, and went trough the gate, while everyone farewelled him.

Yuma stared a bit at the portal, then looked down and sighed, sounding very sad. «In the end, he really left.» Few tears went down his cheeks. All the Numbers Club looked at him sadly. «Don't worry Yuma. One day you'll meet him again.» said Tetsuo. Yuma nodded slightly. «Yeah, I know... but I'll miss... the times when he was always around me... annoying me to no end...» He snicker a bit under his breath. «Whenever he was beside me... my life was a bit more troublesome... but also more thrilling... I know I'll miss when dueling wasn't only for fun, but for survive...» Kotori looked at him saddened by his words. «Do really think from now on your life will be boring?» she asked straightly.

Yuma gasped very lightly at her directness, and turned to the other side. «Well... maybe...» Everyone looked at him with various expressions, but mostly gloominess. Then, much to everyone's surprise, but mainly Yuma's, Kotori lifted his head towards hers, hugged him, and kissed him on the lips. Yuma's eyes bugged out, but he made no effort to break apart from her. Most of those present "ooohh"ed at the sight, while other ones made noises of disgust (Nasch, Mizael and Thomas) . «This is not the Fanservice as I mean it...» commented the latter.

After some seconds, she pulled away, a loving-yet-shy look on her face, and a dumbfounded one in his. «It's something I wanted to say you for some time... I... love you...» she whispered, grabbing his hands. «I always admired your fiery and unrestrainable personality... and I can't really see you gloomy like this...» Yuma looked in her eyes shocked, while his cheek flared up. Anna and Cathy sighed. «I hope Kotori will make Yuma happier than we could do... nya...» whispered Cathy shedding a tear. «Me too.» added Anna. Takashi shyly wrapped an arm around the catgirl's shoulders. «Don worry Cat-chan, y-you're a cute girl, you'll surely find someone else...» The silver-haired girl looked at him with a large smile, which he returned.

«I... I understand if you can't feel the same way... I'd be fine to still be your best friend... just... I want you to be happy... even if I can't be on your side forever...» Yuma's grip on her hand tightened, and he struggled to find the right words. «K-kotori... I... I really don't know what to say... you're in fact my best friend... I always thought of you like a twin sister... so... it just seems so weird to me... I can't really give you an answer right now...» Kotori looked down. «I-I understand...after all, it's an acknowledged psychological reaction... based on what I've read...» Yuma stared at her weirdly. Kotori looked away shyly. «I-I've made researches... it's called the "Westermarck effect". A boy and a girl who were friends since before 6 years old tend to not be attracted by each other when they grew. So... I don't blame you...» Yuma looked at her sadly. «I'm sorry...»

Then, two figures emerged from the portal: a man and a woman. The man wore an adventure's coat, and the woman had a white dress and orange hair. Yuma and Akari widened their eyes. «MOM! DAD!» they cried at the same time. The two teens ran into their parents' arms, hugging them tightly. «It's passed so much time!» cried Akari happily. «Yeah. But now we're back.» said Mirai. The family reunion brought more "oooohhh"s from the other people. Haru walked towards them smiling. «Welcome back, Kazuma, Mirai.» Yuma looked into his father's eyes. «Dad, did you saw how good I became at dueling?» he asked. Kazuma grinned and ruffled his son's hair. «Of course! You're going to be the greatest duelist of the Earth!» he replied. Kotori also looked at them smiling.

Yuma called his parent's attention. «Mom, Dad, can I ask you something?» Both adults smiled and nodded. Yuma blushed and toyed with his fingers. «Can you give me some... advice about... girls?» he stuttered. Kazuma and Mirai's faces turned confused, then they looked behind him. «Wow, is that Kotori?» asked Mirai surprised. «She really grew pretty during these years.» commented Kazuma, making the girl blush. The married couple looked at each other for a few seconds, then down at Yuma, who took his own turn to blush. The the two, plus Akari, grinned. «Oh, my little growing man...» said Mirai with a smirk. Kazuma lowered himself to Yuma's eye level. «My advice is: just follow what your heart says. Don't listen too much to your messy head.» he said, ruffling again his hair. «Thinking about it would only make you more confused and unsure.» Yuma closed his eyes, and turned to Kotori. «Well... Kotori is very cute... and she has a great personality... and honestly, she has very little flaws... putting aside her stubbornness...» Kotori glared at him at this point. «She's really special... so, I think we can try...» he said.

Kotori's eyes filled of tears, and she ran towards him, hugging him tightly. The boy cuddled her tenderly, and then they kissed. And then came another wave of "oooohhhh"s and a few "yuck"s. Merag leaned in Durbe's arms, making the grey-haired Varian blush. «It's a very touching moment, don't you think?» she whispered. Durbe nodded awkwardly. «I just remembered I still didn't thank you for sacrificing yourself to give me a chance of victory against Vector...» she trailed off, throwing a death glare at the orange-haired Varian, who flinched, a heavy shiver running trough his body. Merag then looked up again at Durbe, who was scratching his head. «Y-you don't have to thank me, the Emperors should HELP each other.» he said, putting emphasis on "help" and glaring at Vector, who shivered again. «Stop glaring at me!» he whined with his Shingetsu voice, «You two are scaring me!»

Choosing to ignore him, Merag raised herself to Durbe's eye level. They stared in each other's eyes, before... «OH NO! Not you two as well!» yelled Nasch as he forced apart the two. «I still didn't approve this much displays of affection between you two!» Merag death glared at his brother with so much rage, making actually him flinch a little bit. «I thought I said you can't control whatever you want about MY LIFE!»

Vector took advantage of yet another sibling squabble, and quietly tried to tiptoe away, but Nasch grabbed his collar. «And were you are going to?!» Vector's face became a horrorified one when he faced the full hate of his boss. «Even if you redeemed yourself, you still deserve a punishment!» The poor ex-mad-villain struggled to escape. «Help me!» Then, a hand grabbed Nasch's. «Let him go, Shark.» said Yuma with a serious expression. Nasch literally did what his friend said, causing Vector to fall on his rear. Nasch and Yuma stared seriously at each other, until the former looked down at the orange head. «Fine, I'll spare you the physical punishment I want to inflict you so badly...» And Vector whined again. «But from now, you must remain under surveillance, and you can't leave the Varian World.» Vector nodded at his let-off. «Okay, it's fine!» Yuma helped him in getting up. «Don't worry, I'll come at the Varian World often so that we can duel!» said Yuma. «Yay!» squealed the orange head.

However, as Yuma turned and left with Kotori and his family and all the others, Vector started snickering evilly. All the six Emperors glared at him, causing him to jump. «I was kidding!» he said. «Don't. Ever. Leave. Him. Alone.» gritted Nasch. The other five Emperors nodded.

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**Me: I have the strong feeling I read too much stories written by Durbe the Barian XD The "Vector is under guard" thing is something I created to keep the canon with "The Revenge of the Dreamed Hunter", in which Vector didn't showed up with the others Emperors to destroy Shiyuki. When I wrote that chapter, I couldn't believe he would really redeem himself.  
**

**Kotori:** ***walks in, grabs the still catatonic Yuma and drags him away, while glaring at me* Pervert.**

**Me: Oh come on, you slapped me, is it still not enough to calm you down?!**

**Kotori: Just don't even ask us again to read something wrote by that Ham-nam, or whatever he's called.**


End file.
